Butterfly Delivery - Adrinette

And Max

Three weeks after Genesis Quoi

The school bell blared at Ms. Mendeleiev, informing her that she had to release her students from her clutches until the next day. "It looks like we have to call it a day," the teacher grumbled. "We didn't get as far as I would have liked; how am I supposed to teach children their science with these creatures in the classroom! There had better be a revolutionary scientific discovery come out of these things."

"Marinette, could you watch Carl and Anima on Wednesday afternoon? I was hoping Alya and I could catch a movie. We haven't gone out since they arrived."

"Wednesday afternoon?" Marinette verified, "I can't. I have to meet with a client who commissioned a project. I was hoping one of you could watch Bridgette!"

"Oh no!" Alya groaned, "we already bought the tickets. That's all right, Girl, we understand, maybe Nora can watch the kids."

"I can watch them!" Adrien offered. "Bridgette too if you'd like, Marinette. It's about time I paid back the favors I've received from you three."

"Whoa, really?" Nino asked. "Since when were you the only person with an open slot in his schedule? How'd you escape your father? He must be slacking."

"My schedule isn't exactly free..." Adrien chuckled. "I have a photoshoot - as always - and my father actually wanted to include Felix in it. If he wants one butterfly child to be in the shoot, I don't see why he wouldn't allow more. I was worried I would have to defend Felix from him, but it looks like Père is actually on our side this time around."

"Ha! This time!" Nino cheered. "So you admit he's against us on literally anything else we try to do!"

"Not anything, just an exorbitant amount of things. Are we in agreement?" Adrien changed the topic. "I'll babysit on Wednesday?"

"That would be a big help," Alya agreed, "and I'm sure Marinette will take you up on your offer as well. Right, Marinette?"

"Adrien... taking care of my baby... my daughter... in a photoshoot with Adrien!"

Alya waved a hand in Marinette's face, eliciting no response. "She'll be back in a moment," Alya promised, nudging Marinette into motion so she could walk to the front of the school with them, even while still in her trance. "You know, if there's one person I'm worried about causing problems for the children, it's Ms. Mendeleiev. She applied to be the national government's eye on the butterfly children; don't tell me she doesn't have a motive in doing that. If she can find fault with them, she will!"

--

One month after Genesis Quoi

"Uh-huh! This one too!" The science teacher waved her finger in front of Ariel's face, crying out in triumph when the baby proved her right by doing nothing at all. "They're defective, the lot of them! A month-old baby should be able to focus its eyes on an object this distance from its face! This is proof you can't have fully developed humans in only a month; every one of them is blind!"

--

"Blind? Pah!" Rolland dismissed the idea. "She looks like a perfectly healthy baby to me; your teacher doesn't know what she's talking about. Bridgette's got a lot of growing to do, but she'll catch up."

"I don't want to believe it either, Papi, but it's true she doesn't respond. Watch." Marinette lay Bridgette on her back on the table in her grandfather's living room where the TV used to be. He'd finally taken his family's word for it that he might as well toss the old thing out, but he refused to replace it with any device that would bring the internet into his home. Marinette let her finger hover just above her daughter's head, moving it slowly in each direction, trying to get the baby to track. Bridgette's eyes instead watched something off in the distance, beyond and even through her mother's hand.

"You can't compare her to a baby that was born full term, Marinette, that's not the way it works. She was born premature; most babies considered 'one month old' have had ten months' development to her two. I'll say it again - she just needs time to catch up."

Marinette felt a glimmer of hope raise for Bridgette's future. As extraordinary as the baby had been thus far, her great-grandfather refused to see her as anything other than a normal girl with a normal life. "She has grown a lot this past month..."

Bridgette had nearly tripled in size since being coughed up. Marinette could still hold her daughter in the palm of her hand; Bridgette had before been able to lie completely within the confines of the palm itself. Marinette now had to cup her hand to support the little girl's back, while letting her head and feet overflow on either side.

"And she'll keep growing, trust me on that. Just be sure that you feed her right; none of that rice flour."

Marinette chuckled. She most likely would feed Bridgette foods with rice flour in them once she was big enough for solid food, but it wasn't worth arguing with her grandpa over it. "Yes, Papi."

--

Meanwhile

Gabriel was apparently unmoved by the news. "If he's going to be blind, it's fortunate for him to be born this way rather than become blind later on. Your son won't even have the concept of what vision is, so he won't feel the reliance on it that we sighted people have. In fact, I've known some very gifted people who happened to be blind."

Adrien knew to whom his father was referring. The man barely knew the meaning of the word "friend", but to him, another individual of high social class with whom he shared mutual respect was the same thing. The broken connection was still recent enough to sting. "I'm prepared to adjust my lifestyle for him so that he can achieve. He could even be a champion just like -"

"Yes," Gabriel said before Adrien could mention that name, "he could."

"You're taking this hard, aren't you?" Plagg asked, once they were back in Adrien's room. Adrien was holding Felix tightly to his chest as though he was drawing reassurance from the baby.

"I can manage if he's blind, I'll still love him the same. That's not the problem. Thinking of blind people at all makes me think of Tsurugi-san, and thinking of her makes me think of... Kagami. ... I miss her, Plagg. It doesn't make sense! She seemed so supportive the first time she heard about Felix, but then two days later she made a complete turn for the worse! What happened?"

"I think she still wanted to be friends with you, kid, but she wasn't willing to be your friend if others would look down on her for it. Image is very important to her, isn't it?"

"Yes..." Adrien sighed. "I guess I wouldn't want her to be bullied for my sake. If she's just defending herself, I understand."